Brian Cox's Wonders of Life

Wonders of Life is a vast multimedia collection of photos, streaming videos and fairly dense text. Professor Brian Cox, a physicist, would seem to be an odd choice to narrate the app, but much of the content looks at the origins of the senses, how animals expend energy, speed and other topics in his bailiwick. Subjects include the chemistry of water and why it's essential to life, how insects use surface tension to walk on water and why giant insects once found in fossils no longer exist due to changes in the earth's oxygen concentration.

From the Developer

The follow-up to multi-award winning Wonders of the Universe gives you:

Over 30 3D creatures and habitats

Over 2 hours of HD video (wifi connection required for streaming)

More than 1000 crisply high-res images accompanied by expert commentary

And it’s all set against a soundtrack that will blow your socks off

Additional bonus content can be accessed by signing in. (Completely optional! Press "Skip" or "No Thanks" to continue after the Introduction.)

From the vast networks of subterranean freshwater caverns of the Yucatan peninsula to the Great White Sharks haunting the South Neptune Islands, from the Hermit Crabs of Christmas Island to the Red Kangaroo of Western Australia, this app will help you uncover the secrets of life in the most unexpected locations and in the most stunning detail.

Explore the vision of the Kangaroo, the DNA of the Chameleon or the hearing of the Mohave Desert Sand Scorpion in its natural habitat in scintillating 3D detail, delving deep down variously into the detail of microbial life, the inner eye, the second law of thermodynamics, and more.

Along the way you’ll learn how everything on Earth, from the smallest microbe to the largest giraffe, is constructed from the same fundamental building blocks and is subject to the same laws of nature.

Professor Cox and BBC Head of Science Andrew Cohen underpin the experience with over 80 articles delving into intricacies of the natural world and the laws which bind it, alongside over 2 hours of footage from the series and 30 mind-blowing 3D models, all optimised for the iPad’s retina display and set in an interface designed bespoke for IOS 7.

The app seamlessly complements the Wonders of the Universe app (chosen by Apple as one of the best apps of 2012), adding in a tranche of additional information to Brian’s compendium of information on our solar system.